BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 7. AccessBank's Non-performing loans (“NPLs”) have been declining during the last three years, and Bank expects that they will be on the minimum level by the middle of 2023, Chairman of Board at AccessBank David Tsiklauri told Trend.
"Banks went through devaluation period in 2015-2017, and the pandemic in 2022. Most of the NPLs on the balance sheet of AccessBank fall on these periods. The bank is actively working with the clients, who faced problems in 2015-2017 and during the pandemic," he said.
"It's noteworthy that Accessbank's portfolio of NPLs began to decrease starting from 2019 and decreased by around 4 times from its peak. All banks are making great progress in resolving the issue of NPLs, and I believe that this is facilitated by the stabilization of the economy and the good macroeconomic indicators of Azerbaijan," Tsiklauri said.
Problem loans in Azerbaijani banks decreased by 27 percent from January through August 2022 compared to the same period the previous year and amounted to 659.7 million manat ($388 million).